SM earnings jump 26% to P10.7 B in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — SM Investments Corp.(SMIC) of the Sy Group grew its first quarter net income by 26 percent to P10.7 billion.

SMIC is the holding company of the Sy family, engaged in property and mall development through SM Prime Holdings Inc., retail through SM Retail Inc. and banking through BDO Unibank and China Bank.

For the first quarter, banks accounted for 42 percent of SM’s consolidated net income, followed by property at 40 percent and retail at 18 percent.

Consolidated revenue rose 15 percent to P109 billion.

SM president Frederic DyBuncio said the company opened the year strong with double digit growth.

“We continued to deliver double digit growth to both our top and bottom line in the first quarter. Performance was strong across our businesses, particularly for our banks,” he said.

For retail operations, SM Retail Inc. reported a five percent increase in net income to P2.7 billion as revenue rose 13 percent to P79 billion.

As of the end of March, SM Retail had a total of 2,385 stores comprising 63 The SM Stores, 1,388 specialty retail stores, 57 SM Supermarkets, 53 SM Hypermarkets, 194 Savemore, 52 WalterMart and 578 Alfamart stores.

SM Prime Holdings likewise posted a 16 percent growth in net income to P8.8 billion as revenues grew 14 percent to P26.5 billion.

BDO sustained its strong momentum as earnings surged 66 percent to P9.8 billion due to the continued expansion of its core banking operations, recovery of trading gains to normal levels and strong results from bank fees and life insurance premiums.

China Bank’s net income likewise grew 24 percent to P1.9 billion, driven by the continued robust growth of its core businesses.